March 2009 Issue | Download the Full Issue

The annual Hidden Meadows Fashion Show is scheduled for Saturday, March 28, 2009 at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido. Originally slated for last September, the unexpected extra few months have given the planning committee additional time to make the event perfect.
“We had to postpone the event from last year, but it’s back on and we’re ready to go,” said this year’s chairperson, Ellen Molla.
Now in its 18th year, more than 150 people are expected to attend the show and help raise funds for charity. One-third of the net proceeds will go to the American Diabetes Assn., with the remaining proceeds going to the Hidden Meadows Community Foundation.
“The foundation uses funds for things like scholarships and beautification projects,” Molla said. “Everything goes back to the community.”
With the theme “A Green Affair,” Molla said they hope to raise awareness that even the tiniest steps can help save our environment.
“Everybody is talking about being green these days,” Molla said. “We wanted to focus on the fact that the small things we do each day to be more eco-friendly can really make a difference.”
In addition to using succulents and bamboo for flowers and ambiance, there are a few other changes this year’s fashion show will feature.
“The goal is for the models to wear at least one item that is earth-friendly,” Molla said. “We can’t expect to own all ‘green’ outfits, but even owning just one thing helps us become more eco-friendly.”
Macy’s North County Fair in Escondido has always provided the clothes for the models, but this year the store is providing everything from hats, to shoes, to handbags, to accessories.
“It’s so much easier for the models to get everything at one place,” Molla explained. “We are very thankful to Macy’s. They are even giving our models twenty-percent off whatever they wear.”
Also different this year is the return of the Antique Car Show, which Molla admits is partly to help draw in more men.
“The cars are mainly to give the guys something to do, but the event is a family show,” Molla said. “We will have fashions for boys, girls, men and women.”
Rounding out the event will be a Chinese Auction. Participants can buy drawing tickets and drop them into a jar in front of the item they want to bid on.
“I like the concept of the Chinese Auction. It gives everyone a chance,” Molla said. “If you want a better chance at winning a certain item, you just buy and bid more tickets.”
The 2009 Hidden Meadows Fashion Show starts at 10:30 a.m. Ticket prices are $40 for singles, $75 for couples and $12 for children ages 4 to 12. The entrance fee includes lunch.
“You can choose an entrée of Asian chicken salad, chicken marsala or vegetable fettuccine alfredo,” said Molla. “And there is a kid’s meal of chicken nuggets.”
If you are ready to commit to this fun and friendly fashion showcase, and want to help out several good charities at the same time, call 760-532-1694 to purchase your tickets.
If you are interested in learning more about the Hidden Meadows Fashion Show, call Ellen Molla at 760-749-4640.

Zoofari: New Cheetah Run Shows How Nature's Runner Goes From Zero to 70 in 4 Seconds

He can go zero to seventy miles per hour in four seconds.
He can outrun any prey alive.
We’re not talking about the ultimate driving machine, but the ultimate running machine—the cheetah—world’s fastest land mammal.
Just about the only thing he can’t outrun are the people who sometimes seem determined to hunt him to extinction.
When last we met Victor the cheetah, he was an 18-month-old adolescent with a crush on his keepers, Kimberly Wright and Jackie Navarro, founder and director of Zoofari, the small, intimate 4 1/2 acre haven in Bonsall that was created to house “non-releasable, displaced and abandoned” wild animals.
Originally from Capetown, South Africa, Victor was a baby who had been separated from his mother after she proved to be a bad parent. Raised on the bottle, Victor showed a special affinity for people.
Nearly a year since our last visit Victor is still in love with his keepers, still chowing down on four pounds of raw red meat a day in order to maintain his lean, sporty, whippet-like physique. Still charming school children all over the county as he performs his duties as “cheetah goodwill ambassador.” Still enjoying interacting with the public.
Soon his public will be able to see a new side of Victor. But they’ll have to look fast or they might miss him. They will see a cheetah as he is normally seen only in the wild: chasing prey. Or at least a reasonable facsimile of prey.
For Victor, prey is what runs away from him. If you put a stuffed toy on the end of a rope and cast it like a fly-fishing line, as handler Kimberly does occasionally to play with him, he will chase it.
In this case the lure will be a stuffed zebra attached to a greyhound chasing system—normally used to get racing greyhounds to run. But let’s face it, greyhounds are poky passenger buses compared to a cheetah.
“What WAS that? I saw a blur but nothing else.” “I don’t know—but it was something fast!”
Oh and did I say that Victor views anything that runs from him as prey? Never for a moment forget that this magnificent cat, even though he was raised on a bottle, and rolls on his back and demands to have his belly rubbed, is a wild beast.
“I would never turn my back on him,” confides Navarro. “That’s just a precaution that you take as a matter of course.”
If you’ve never seen a cheetah run except on the Discovery Channel you will soon have your chance as Zoofari will open its exciting “Cheetah Run,” in March.
While the cheetah is undoubtedly the fastest warm blooded creature on earth, it is vanishing as a species nearly as fast. From a population in the hundreds of thousands in the 1800s, it has fallen to about 10,000 today.
A special fund-raiser that will also hopefully raise consciousness about the cheetah’s plight will be held March 29 at Zoofari in Bonsall. A limited number of visitors will be able to “brunch with the beasts,” and hear Rebecca Klein of Cheetah Conservation Botswana (CCB) talk about her work trying to persuade farmers in Botswana, Africa to stop killing the cheetah. Funds raised will go to CCB.
“Botswana is like the Wild West. Cheetahs are still tortured and killed there,” explains Navarro. “They are out and out killing them. They see them as competition.” Klein is employing range education with farmers and ranchers to demonstrate how they can coexist using better fencing and big dogs,” to protect their livestock.
Unlike big cats like leopards and lions, cheetahs are closer to their smaller feline cousins in that they are terrified of big dogs.
They are also educating ranchers to the fact that they can make big tourist bucks by having big predators that visitors can come and look at.
Man is only the most dangerous of the cheetah’s enemies. Also doing their best to do him in are hyenas, leopards and lions, who can all beat him up and steal his dinner in the wild.
“We are hoping to get people to attend who are passionate about wildlife and to raise some significant money,” says Navarro.
The cost to attend the special event is $85 for adults and $35 for children. It includes a champagne brunch, the talk about cheetahs, the presentation of Victor running and an auction of some native African crafts and other unique items.
In preparation for the March opening, Zoofari is in the process of setting up the run in a long fenced ravine.
When we caught up with Jackie Navarro she was on the phone arranging to have a leopard and a lion flown in for a segment of the The Tonight Show that would be filmed with Dave Salmoni of Animal Planet—and presumably not to provide a scenic backdrop for a performance of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”
The Zoofari enclosure is in a residential neighborhood in Bonsall, just a few hundred yards from the the San Luis Rey River, off Hwy 76.
It’s not a zoo. But it is available for tours and private parties and to visit schools. Its main purpose is education and conservation.
Navarro talked about some of the new animals that have arrived at Zoofari since we last visited.
There’s Siri, the five and a half month old African serval cat, one of thousands of wild animals that are inappropriate for the average person to raise but which are illegally brought into the country anyway.
“The average person is not equipped to deal with the idiosyncrasies of a wild serval,” notes Navarro.
“It has taken us thousands of years to domesticate our cats.”
There’s also a new arctic fox and a grey fox, which is actually an animal native to San Diego County.
I’m actually familiar with this animal, an example of which I see running across the road in front of my car almost every night when I drive home to my cabin on Palomar Mountain.
The grey fox is the only “dog” that can climb trees! It lives mainly on birds’ eggs. The one who now calls Zoofari home is as young, sweet tempered female named Meadow.
It takes thousands of dollars a month to provide for these special beasts and many hundreds of hours of dedicated volunteer time to care for them.
They greatly need volunteers.
“It does require a commitment because it’s full contact with the animals and so you need to commit a full four hours a week,” says Navarro.
* * *
To learn how you can help Victor, Meadow and all of the other Zoofari animals, visit their Web site at www.zoofari.net or call them at 760-630-9230.
Make checks payable to Zoofari, Inc., POB 2771, Carlsbad, CA 92008.

Old Schoolhouse is a Diamond in the Rough

The Twin Oaks House was first built in 1891 as a one room schoolhouse. Some say it was originally moved from Buena Creek to its current location on Deer Springs Road.
The building still retains the blackboards from that time and 90% of its original construction.
Two adults who attended school at the schoolhouse in the 1940s have signed the blackboards in chalk. One of them, Bill Ulhand, who graduated in 1943, is a next door neighbor of the house. The house’s owners have collected a few cherished photos of the school when it was functioning as an educational institution.
Owner Karen Sherman and her family see themselves as the stewards of the house, rather than its “owners.” They use the money the home generates from weddings to preserve it and enhance it for future generations.
“When you give a house a job to facilitate itself, that is its highest purpose. An old house needs a lot of care. It is generating the income to restore itself. It will be seen as a beautiful place to get married for many years,” says Mrs. Sherman.
For her husband, father, mother and kids, the house is a labor of love. They refer to the house as their “mothership.”
“As a family we had the goal of restoring it,” she says.
That job began in in 2001 when they purchased the former school, which had in the interim become a residence.
Karen Sherman had previously restored an antique house in San Marcos. The family has a history of owning hotels and restaurants. Husband Richard is a landscape designer who owns a nursery in Fallbrook. He keeps the property supplied with color all year round—or at least during the wedding season, from spring through fall.
“For me it was a little diamond in the rough,” says Mrs. Sherman.
Weddings at the Twin Oaks House & Gardens occur in the late afternoon, when the towering eucalyptus canopy casts shade over the elegant, white gazebo.
In the daytime, the house looks like what it is: a Victorian building peering through the foliage—almost hidden from motorists on Deer Springs Road.
Then, as evening falls, the old schoolhouse takes on a fairy tale charm. The twinkling lights that are its trademark flicker on and wreath the building, outlining its bell tower and suffusing the grounds and garden in a magic glow—elegance without pretense. A warm, romantic way for two people to celebrate the start of their lives together.
“All of our weddings are afternoon ceremonies with an evening reception—without exception,” says Karen Sherman, owner of the Twin Oaks House. “We’re known for our evening receptions.”
The house’s lovely Victorian garden estate charm attracts couples that want something unique.
One of the most unusual ceremonies it has seen was a “Roaring Twenties” themed wedding. The bride, groom and guests all wore outfits from the 1920s. A jazz band played in the white reception tent next to the house and the classic film Casablanca was projected onto the hanging chiffon liner.
“What that one had going for it was that it was theme oriented,” she recalls. “This place was perfect for that.”
She is very picky about the weddings she plans. For instance, she refuses to turn the house into a wedding mill. They will not have more than three weddings a weekend.
“We host one wedding a day,” she says. “We want the couple to feel comfortable and relaxed, and not feel as though they have to vacate the place to make room for another couple. We could host two weddings a day but choose not to. If you are pushing people to cut a cake on a schedule, that does not create a good impression. For us that would be too impersonal to even think of doing.”
They act as the wedding planners for the couple, lining up the vendors, the vintage limos, chefs, music, everything. “We have a good thing going. We think of our vendors as family,” she says.
“I take a big interest in the couple, in finding out their likes and dislikes, their personalities.”
She meets with them four times. She makes a point of probing to find out a lot about them.
“Because they have the house for the day, we can personalize the space as much as possible,” she says.
If, say the couple has parents who have been happily married for years, pictures of them could be placed in the house.
“When a bride says, ‘I’ve always dreamed of this but it’s not in our budget,’ I make a point of introducing it as a gift,” she says.
Most of their business comes by word of mouth—and they are booked through 2010. Clients come from the surrounding area—and from all over the world.
For a recent wedding, the couple had met at a Volkswagen bug car show. Both were passionate about VWs, so Karen Sherman created a wedding theme around a Volkswagen.
They host 15-20 events a year that are teacher-related. What better place for an educator to get married than in what was once a one-room schoolhouse?
They also host a fund-raiser once a year that benefits Twin Oaks Valley, with funds used to help maintain the valley’s rural lifestyle.
If you want to find out more about Twin Oaks House, visit them when they hold Open House, every Friday from noon-6 p.m. Call anytime 760-510-1606. Or visit their Web site at: www.twinoakweddings.com.

Fallbrook High School Builds a New Greenhouse

Ag education. It’s not your father’s greenhouse any more! Those of us who may have taken ornamental horticulture or some such thing when we were in high school—back in the Middle Ages—will find a lot to recognize, but a lot that’s new and high tech when we venture onto a modern high school ag department campus.
Fallbrook High School, which has one of the most impressive ag departments in the area—with 400-500 students at any one time—just opened its brand new greenhouse. It is larger than anything that they had before: 30 feet by 24 feet, and will allow them to do things like hydroponics and aquaculture.
Hydroponics is raising plants without soil—I called it “dirt” at first but instructor George Kreutz gently corrected me. “Dirt” is a dirty word!
Kreutz, a white-haired man with a short white beard and a quiet, authoritative manner, has been an ag teacher for most of his career, although the last eight years have been at FHS.
He tells me that the advantage of growing without soil is that you can control everything that comes into contact with the plant, which can prevent the transmission of plant diseases, controls nutrients and makes harvesting easier with some crops.
Aquaculture is the farming of fish and mollusks and other things that grow underwater. Many fish that find their way to our dinner tables are raised this way as we deplete the natural habitats of fish in the oceans.
Of course, the greenhouse will also be used for plants that we normally associate with greenhouses, but because the brand new fiberglass walls—the same material used in patio covers— will let in more light, this also makes aquaculture and hydroponics more viable.
The high school’s ag program is one of the most venerable in the county, and one of the largest. It offers a wide variety of disciplines and develops familiarity with not just livestock, such as goats, pigs, lambs and cattle, but ag machinery, ag biology, ornamental horticulture, floral design and even the history of art and floral design.
Its four teachers are Scott Duffin, Margaret Chapman, George Kreutz and Department Chairman Doug Sehnert.
It is a full vocational program that equips young people to enter a field that is, as I said, much different from the farm of your dad’s day.
Some students learn about the economics of farming by tilling their own plot of land and then selling the results at one of the department’s periodic nursery sales.
Barb Kessel, president of the Fallbrook Ag Boosters Club, used to be an ag student here more than 30 years ago. Back then the program had two teachers and about 150 students. But the FFA students wore the same blue jackets then that they do today. And they still had “greenhand” ceremonies for neophyte members and raised animal projects to take to the Del Mar Fair.
The greenhouses they had were 8’ X 8’—and certainly didn’t have room for fish farming!
Of course, the term ornamental horticulture means something different today than it did 30 years ago—it includes the cultivation of koi, the big carp that you see in many artificial ponds.
Today Kessel is a volunteer with the program. “It’s a long-standing tradition in Fallbrook. People helped us when we were young, so today we help out. They were doing mentoring here before it became popular!”
Often several generations of the same family are involved in the program, either as student, mentor, or volunteer.
Many of the area’s nurseries and farm-related businesses help out, and often give jobs to the ag students. The program gives students enough information that they can sometimes decide if a career in this industry is for them.
She points out that many of the kids who enter the program for the first time are neophytes to soil and animals. Not everyone grew up in a 4-H family. In fact, most people didn’t.
“A lot of them don’t go out and get their hands dirty before they get into this program. It gives them something that they can show they did—something they can be proud of.”
The kids get a fuller perspective of where the food that ends up on the dinner table actually come from.
Kessel is full of the praises of the new $40,000 greenhouse, which the Boosters, along with several local businesses and the school district, nursery sales and grants contributed to: “We can do a lot more climate control in this greenhouse.”
Today’s agriculture—at least in Southern California—is in the midst of changing. It’s keeping its rural roots but is also becoming more urban in its focus.
So, for example, some of the kids who don’t have room at home for their 4-H or FFA projects raise them on the school property.
Whatever the term “agriculture” ultimately comes to mean, some things will probably never change. Our fresh meat, vegetables and fruit will always come from some man or woman in blue jeans and a cap with a passion for a lifestyle—it’s never just a job— that has always been taken for granted by most people who reach into the produce section of the supermarket for a ripe apple or avocado.
And there will always be a need for programs like the one offered by Fallbrook High School to keep developing young people with that passion.

Reducing Energy Dependence One House At A Time

Waymon Arnold is not your typical salesman. He is a man with such conviction and belief in his product that he willingly tells customers to buy it even if not from him.
Arnold is a solar designer and sells solar energy systems.
“I’m a big advocate of solar power,” Arnold said. “I always say if you don’t buy it from me, buy it from someone.”
Perhaps part of the reason Arnold encourages the use of solar power is because he once lived in the Virgin Islands where the cost of energy is more than twice the cost of the U.S. mainland average.
But energy here on the mainland can get pricey, too.
“Electricity is on a tier system in San Diego. The first three hundred and fifty kilowatt hours are fairly inexpensive at thirteen cents a kilowatt. But after that it goes up exponentially.” Arnold explained. “Depending on how much energy you use, it can often triple and the next thing you know you are paying forty-five cents a kilowatt. That adds up fast.”
Aside from paying less for energy, there are many other reasons to look into solar power. Solar energy systems provide energy at the point of consumption rather than at a central power plant that is often hundreds of miles away.
So not only do solar energy systems alleviate stress and congestion on the central power grid, but they eliminate any worries or concerns about power outages and generation failures for the consumer.
Another intriguing reason to look into a solar energy system is “net metering.” Net metering actually allows you to sell excess power back to the grid and make money on the energy you don’t use.
“The solar electric grid stores power throughout the day when in the sun. During this time, the meter actually spins backwards,” Arnold said. “When you are home and are using energy, the meter spins forward. If you store more than you use, you can sell the energy back.”
In addition to making money on unused energy, you can also receive financial incentives from local and federal government programs, as well as your utility company.
The amount of sunlight we receive in our beautiful state is an obvious reason to consider solar energy (although you still need to make sure your home and location favor natural sunlight— which is a good reason to get a free consultation from Arnold Solar).
While the above reasons are convincing, these days there is one big reason why many consumers are turning to solar energy: they want to save the environment with an energy-efficient home.
But that’s not why Arnold made the change.
“It’s not all about being green,” Arnold admits. “For me, it’s more about energy dependence. I like not being dependent on propane.”
Propane cost is based on OPEC [Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries], and as we all know, the cost can fluctuate greatly. It went from $1.80 a gallon to $4 a gallon and back down just in the last year alone.
“With propane, you are at the mercy of the powers that be,” Arnold stated. “Energy is expensive to be dependent on—solar power just makes financial sense.”
Arnold and his wife opened Arnold Solar four years ago. They offer everything from solar hot water heaters to solar lighting and more.
For more information and for a free consultation, call 760-749-7664 or 619-507-6255.

Stained and Etched Glass Artist, Buck Gerlach, Has Done Work for The Pope & for the Rich and Famous

Buck Gerlach is ecumenical when it comes to the etched and stained glass artworks he has done for over 30 years.
He has done work for the pope that was commissioned by Hindus. He has beautified churches in Fallbrook. He has created for the third man to walk on the moon, Pete Conrad and done work for Padre outfielder Tony Gwynn.
Most recently his company, Gerlach’s Art Glass, which often works with etched glass artist Linda Bamburger, did a stained glass, etched set of 14 doors for Pechanga Casino and Resort in Temecula.
Although a glass artist for all of his professional life, he studied architecture and drafting at Arizona State University beginning at age 16 and never lost his interest in it—nor ever stopped being influenced by it.
But he got hooked on stained glass in his fourth year at college and has done it professionally ever since.
“My biggest challenge is in my design,” says Gerlach. “I like to incorporate things into the architecture. Rather than stand out I prefer to have it blend in with where it will be going.”
He does glass etching, stained and leaded glass, custom beveling and painting on glass.
This artist who has lived in both Fallbrook and Valley Center, was born and raised in the Bay Area and moved as an adult to the country.
“I’m a country boy at heart,” he says.
In 1987 in honor of the visit of Pope John Paul II, Gerlach was commissioned by a U.S.-based Hindu group to make a gift for the pontiff. Its theme, like similar gifts made by six other religions, was the unity of the world’s major religions.
The piece was a 2-foot square window depicting key elements of the Hindu belief: a lotus flower floating in water and a sun and the sun’s rays.
He has also done work at the Hotel Del Coronado, including etched panels for a convention hall and a partition between the bar area and concierge desk.
He did a window for lunar astronaut Pete Conrad.
His work is half stained glass and half etching, although etching is on the upswing in popularity.
The glass artists he admires most are Louis Tiffany and Frank Lloyd Wright.
“A lot of my early work was definitely in the Wright style,” he says.
His work is much in demand. That leaves little time for glasswork for pleasure, except for a few windows and lamps in his home and pieces made as gifts.
Ninety percent of the time Gerlach is asked to create a design. He talks with clients to get a better idea of what they are looking for.
“In some cases they know what they want and it’s just a matter of time of putting it out,” he says.
He is partial to contemporary themes—free flowing lines that don’t depict anything—although that doesn’t always go with some kinds of architecture.
Some dreams he has never been able to realize.
“Thirty odd years ago I was asked to design a swimming pool cover out of stained glass and it always has intrigued me. It never materialized but I’ve always in the back of my mind thought that would be a great job.
“It would be structurally challenging, sunlight challenging, with factors of heat and cool loss. I thought about it for quite a few months,” he muses.
One day he was recruited for the Pechanga job when the superintendent called and said he needed 14 etched doors. Oh, and yes, they needed it in two months.
Gerlach took a photo of an oak tree and extended the tree across seven connected glass doors.
His co-worker Linda Bamburger of San Marcos did the sketch drawing of the proposal and Gerlach was given the job.
Fifty-four days, 600 hours, five rolls of sandblast resistant tape, 100 razor blades, six ink pens, four erasers and 600 pounds of aluminum oxide (which is used to etch the glass) later the job was completed—two days ahead of schedule.
His newest project is a skylight in a Pauma Valley house that is a real sundial with a rod and ball that will cast a shadow that will show what time it is, what month it is, and where the earth is in the Zodiac.
The client, an engineer, is one of the 10% of clients who present Gerlach with a drawing and asks, “Can you do this?”
Of course he can. It’ll probably be done ahead of schedule too!
To find out more about Gerlach’s Art Glass call for an appointment at 760-749-5600.

Deer Springs Fire Protection District

“We want to be progressive and proactive,” declares the recently elected president of the Deer Springs Fire Protection District, Bob Frey. “We don’t want a crises to come before we think about it and plan for it.”
First appointed to the board last August by the Board of Supervisors, Frey was elected to a full term in November of 2008.
Frey is very involved with the civic life of the Hidden Meadows area. He helped organize the Deer Springs Fire Safe Council and the Deer Springs Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) which now includes 45 members and has been chairman of the Hidden Meadows Sponsor Group for five years.
The district serves a steadily growing population currently estimated to be about 13,000. Its three fire stations are each staffed by from three to four firefighters, including one paramedic. An additional station is manned by Cal Fire, the state fire agency that has also contracted to provide administrative services to the district.
The Deer Springs district was created after Proposition 13 was passed by the voters of California. Like all such “post Prop. 13 districts,” its financial choices are severely limited.
It cannot adopt any new tax funding mechanism without two-thirds approval of its voters.
That’s why Frey says, “The major issue is the financial well being of our district.”
A few years ago the voters approved an increase of 16 cents per $1,000. But the district has used 12 cents of the 16 cent maximum and with increasing costs—including the district’s contract with Cal Fire—it will reach that maximum soon. “We are looking down four or five years before that happens,” says Frey.
New homes construction is decreasing while costs are going up. Once the district reaches that 16 cent maximum, it will have to go back to the taxpayers.
“The projections indicate that we are going to have to look carefully at our services. They look very dire,” says Frey.
Two members of the board have been asked to do posit “what if?” scenarios for the near future.
The single largest expenditure is the district’s Cal Fire contract—and it is going up.
Deer Springs maintains a capital improvement fund so that it can replace fire engines every ten years—buying them with cash. New trucks can cost between $500,000 and $700,000. When a truck is replaced, it becomes a reserve truck.
If you live outside of the Deer Springs Fire Protection District and have read about it in the news, you probably read of its objection to the Stone Development group’s Merriam Mountain project on the west side of I-15.
It has objected because of the project’s alleged lack of a comprehensive emergency evacuation plan.
In 2006 three directors were elected on a platform of opposing the development. They joined two incumbents who were already opposed. For two years that was one of the main themes of the district’s board meetings.
However, in November of 2008 three new directors were elected, including Frey. While the board continues to have concerns about the project, it has pushed other priorities to the forefront.
To address them directors have broken up into subcommittees.
Directors Tim Geiser and Bruce Tebbs are the subcommittee looking at financial projections.
Board Vice President Jean Slaughter, a retired fire chief from Pasadena, is studying future facilities, fire trucks and stations.
Frank Donnelly is developing a new policies and procedures handbook, a suggestion made at the last annual audit.
“We have portions of these policies here and there, but we are going to consolidate it,” says Frey. “We are proactively getting things together.”
Obviously it concentrates the mind wonderfully when your entire community is evacuated by a fire, as Hidden Meadow was in October of 2007.
“We want to continue to ensure that our community is as fire safe as possible,” says Frey. “Consequently, we are working with the fire safe council to make sure that we are as prepared as possible.
“We need a team effort at this point. An interlocking effort provides for the safety and wellbeing of our community.”
The fires of 2007 showed starkly that Hidden Meadows’s one road in and out is a potential disaster.
To address it, Bruce Tebbs has been asked to develop an evacuation plan. Tebbs has a particular interest in that area primarily because he was very involved with the Merriam Mountain project when he was elected to the fire board in 2006.
According to Frey, “That made Bruce particularly interested in what happens to people during fires. Where do they go? How are they evacuated to safer places? I asked him to broaden that interest and look at the entire district.”
Frey adds, “We need to be progressive and proactive. We have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that we do the best that we can. So that when there are emergencies we have the best possible equipment and best responders. We take our job very seriously!”
The district is making an effort to get more members of the public involved and informed about its efforts.
It recently changed its meetings to Second Tuesday of the month, 3 p.m. at Station One at Circle R. Drive.
“We always want to listen to the members of our community and make sure we are meeting their needs,” says Frey.
“I’ve developed a mantra that these are not public meetings but meetings held in public. We have five members who do the work of the community, but we do want to have communication with our constituency at the proper time and proper place.”
They are also reworking their Web site: www.deerspringsfire.org/ to ensure that all relevant materials and other public information is readily accessible.

Alley Cats: Paying Tribute to the Music of the 1950s

On a recent evening when The Tonight Show’s host, comedian Jeno Leno was appearing on stage locally, a group of four a capella male singers warmed up the crowd for him.
Dressed in matching bowling shirts and black slacks, they entertained the crowd with humor, topical wit and songs from the 1950s and 60s. They brought members of the audience up on stage and gave them the chance to sing. They brought the crowd to its feet several times.
By the time Leno stepped on stage, he didn’t have to do much to put the audience into the palm of his hand.
The Alley Cats, Mando, Toby, Royce and Juan, (two tenors, a baritone and a base) open for Leno whenever he’s in the Western U.S. But you don’t have to wait until Leno next appears locally—the Alley Cats perform Sundays at 7 p.m. at the Welk Resorts Theatre’s intimate auditorium.
They perform “doo wop,” a new term for “oldies,”—the music that the Baby Boomer generation grew up with.
The “boys” came from a variety of backgrounds, but Mando, the “founding father of the group,” was a student at Fullerton College’s music department when he was asked to put together a variety show. He got together with three of his friends, and they performed Billy Joel’s The Longest Time.
By the time they left the stage people were asking for their business cards.
Soon they appeared on TV’s old The Gong Show and won the Blast to the Past contest to play at Disneyland, where they needed 20–30 minutes of songs. So they quickly built up their repertoire.
An appearance on the Arsenio Hall Show in 1992 got them even more exposure and gigs at fairs and festivals all over the Western U.S.
Their big break happened when they appeared at the White House in 2000. Although President & Mrs. Clinton didn’t stay for the whole show, their daughter, Chelsea, did.
“She’s a big fan,” explains Mando.
From that moment on, they left their day jobs and became professional musicians full-time.
As they widened their market, they increased their business savvy. They began to develop their signature style, which includes interacting with the audience.
Their hallmark is showmanship and humor. Originally the humor was of the improv sort—and they have kept that type of humor, but refined it with topical, regional references. To bone up on whatever area they are appearing in they read the local paper and listen to the local news.
Since 2000 they have appeared in 42 states (it will be 43 after they perform in Oklahoma in a few weeks). There is no place in the U.S. where their fun, family-friendly, a capella program isn’t familiar to the audience.
“We’re the music of the Baby Boomers. There is no place that we don’t have an audience. But it’s not a generation thing solely. We can go to a college and they will have a ball,” says Mando.
They have been opening for Leno in the western states, including Las Vegas at the Mirage, for two years now. They have been performing at Welk’s for about as long.
They frequently visit school campuses, entertaining children from kindergarten to college, with lessons in vocal harmony and showmanship—a program they call “The Do Ray Mes of Doo Wop.”
They started this program in 2001 and have performed it at 1,500 schools to an estimated one million students, including most of the schools in the Los Angeles area, which is their home base.
“It doesn’t matter what age they are, they are going to know some of the songs we do, whether its Rockin’ Robin or the Chipmunks’ songs,” says Mando.
The Alley Cats is actually as much a brand as it is a group. There are 22 members, although two of the founding members, Mando and Royce, run the operation. All of them are men and they have never considered adding any women, although they have toyed with doing a set that would include songs from all girl groups, e.g., My Boyfriend’s Back.
“After twenty-two years we figure if it’s not broke, don’t fix it!” says Mando.
So it is possible for the group to perform at two places at the same time. For one to teach students about harmony while another opens for Leno at the Mirage.
When they are performing solo their show usually lasts 90 minutes. Taking requests is an important part of their show.
“We can literally say that we have done about everything you can name,” says Mando.
The most requested song by far is The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Others that get requested constantly are Sh-Boom, Run Around Sue, Only You, Twilight Time and Still of the Night.
When they get requests to do a song, they will be told, “I met my wife when that song was playing,” or “That’s when I had my first kiss,” or “I played that song in my first car.”
“We bring memories back to people, and take them back to a familiar time,” says Mando.
They would like to introduce the group more into the east coast and to eventually stage a 90-minutes show on the order of Forever Plaid in Branson, Missouri.
They also do a 90-minute Christmas show that tours during the holidays.
The potential in the a capella recording world is “huge,” according to Mando, who adds, “We have the longest longevity of any group like this and none of them do what we do.”
They like to joke that they could be on TV if only TV would revive the variety show.
The group has five CDs, including: A Christmas Long Ago, The Doo-Wop Drive-In LIVE, Strike 3!, Cruisin' and The Cat’s Meow, which you can purchase online, or at Welk’s if you see them there.
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If you’d like to book the Alley Cats, contact them at 714-985-0606, 866-770-CATS or visit their Web site at www.thealleycats.com/

Palomar Christian Conference Center

Many of the Bible’s greatest prophets first met God in the wilderness.
If there is a central idea behind the Palomar Christian Conference Center, located on top of Palomar Mountain, it is that being surrounded by the majesty of the Creator’s forests and mountains brings you closer to God.
“We believe in the values of transformed lives,” says Kim Rosiar, executive director of the center. He and his wife, Donna, director of development and marketing, sat down recently with some cups of coffee to talk about the conference center’s mission and its history.
It would be hard to find surroundings more majestic than the 320 acres owned by the conference center. One third is flat and developed into hiking trails, and the rest is mostly slope. All of it is surrounded by the tall, stately pines and cedars of Palomar Mountain.
Bound as it is by the Palomar Mountain State Park and the Cleveland National Forest, the center is unique among privately owned forest-oriented Christian centers in that it is not being encroached upon by development—and probably never will.
Its mission is to provide a place to grow closer with God. A chance to get still and listen. “To listen in the center of his creation, we believe it is easier to hear him,” says Kim Rosiar. “Our mission is also replenishment, renewal, surrounded by God’s creation and reminded how big He is. People are challenged by what their purpose is in life.”
The center started as the Palomar Baptist Camp, incorporated in the 1960s, and later became an interdominational center.
Accommodations are not primitive. But they can put you in touch with primitive right quick—just walk out the door and take a deep, cleansing breath! They include a dorm style lodge with 220 bunk beds and the Spruce Lodge, which is a hotel like accommodation that can sleep up to 100 guests.
Construction is scheduled to begin in April on an additional meeting room.
The “chapel” (actually an event center), can hold 350 people. There are also smaller meeting rooms—perfect for the occasional business conference or corporate getaway.
The center hosts school camps and ASB leadership camps. There is also an outdoor education program developed by the center’s staff specifically for the mountain and its unique flora and fauna.
The educational curriculum is secondary to the center’s primary mission of providing retreats to Christian organizations.
Weekends are taken up mainly by Christian groups. An example would be missionaries doing strategic planning. Weekdays are given over mainly to educational groups.
During the summer the center transitions almost exclusively to youth summer camp activities.
That’s when you’ll find youths engaged in archery, horseback riding lessons and trail riding, .22 caliber rifle shooting, BB gun and skeet shooting, swimming, ball playing and paintball.
There is also an outdoor boys activities camp similar to Outward Bound where boys learn survival skills such as how to make a shelter.
The center also offers accommodations for individual pastors that they can use as “mini-vacations,” and for personal replenishment.
In 2007, a few days after most of the mountain’s residents returned from being evacuated for nearly two weeks by the Poomacha fire, the center hosted a dinner at the cafeteria to honor the volunteer fire department. They invited all of the residents of the mountain. It is estimated that this was the largest gathering to ever take place on the mountain.
“That was a great thing to be able to host that,” recalls Mrs. Rosiar. “It was a time of bonding for the community.”
The Rosiars have been at the conference center since 2001. He was a private golf club administrator but was educated in organizational leadership from BIOLA (Baptist Institute of Los Angeles). He was in the golfing business for 22 years. She was a homemaker for their three daughters and was involved in a lot of community activities.
About the only vestige of that old life are the golf carts they use to move around on the conference center grounds.
“I wasn’t sure when we first came here about living in a camp,” he recalls. “But God made it clear that we were to do it.”
The center provides housing for them and other key staff members—about 15 in number—which doubles during the summer.
The center provides considerable opportunity for volunteering. Many of the staff during the summer are college kids. One Christian organization of retired RV owners, the SOWERS (Servants On Wheels Ever Ready) arrive for weeks at a time and work four days a week, mostly performing maintenance tasks.
An RV park that can accommodate them opened two years ago.
The Palomar Christian Conference Center, the Rosiars emphasize, is all about life changing.
“A young girl came up a few years ago on a retreat. She had found out she was pregnant and was going to have the baby terminated,” Mrs. Rosiar recalls. “She decided to have the baby and to adopt it out.”
“All the time people come here aimless and God makes clear to them a sense of vision,” says Mr. Rosiar. “He gives them a clear sense of the direction where they should go.
“With youth groups we have a lot of conversions that change the direction of their lives.”
Pastors often leave the center with a renewed sense of how to lead their congregations.
“One young girl attended our horse camp,” recalls Mrs. Rosiar. “She made a commitment to Christ. She came back every year after that. She grew in her faith. She went to college.” Now the girl is a program director at the camp.
“I know the value of this program and the impact it can have on these young girls,” she says.
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To find out more about the center, call 800-833-1444, visit www.pccc.org or write them at P.O. Box 160, Palomar Mountain, CA 92060. Call or write and get on the mailing list.

J.J. "Purty" Landers: Serving Up Pints and Personality

Every community has its landmark hot spots. There’s the hometown steak house, the cool concert venue, and, of course, the local watering hole.
In Fallbrook, J.J. “Purty” Landers Irish pub could easily be all three.
Pubs are known to be lively places where people can go for an experience. J.J. Landers doesn’t disappoint in this respect. With frosty drinks, a tasty menu and live music every Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the restaurant has become a popular gathering place on Fallbrook’s Main Street.
“It’s a pub, but it’s very unique,” said manager Jessica Cinnamon. “There are no other restaurants like it in Fallbrook.”
With 12 draught beers, a full bar, and an enticing menu of traditional Irish fair, J.J. Landers is reminiscent of an authentic pub right out of Dublin.
Upon entrance, you can’t help but note the laid-back atmosphere and the cheerful service. There is a hospitable vibe in the air.
Perhaps it’s the comfortable seating or the relaxing lighting. Or maybe it’s the easy-listening music that ranges from classic rock to reggae to traditional Irish music.
The combination of these elements creates a genuine Irish ambiance and puts you at ease.
The menu features native dishes such as fish-n-chips, bangers & mash, corned beef & cabbage, Guinness stew, and an Irish whiskey chicken boxty. The boxty is a potato pancake stuffed with a blend of chicken, mushrooms, onions and tomatoes. J.J. Landers saturates the boxty in an Irish whiskey sauce that leaves a long-lingering, savory aftertaste. It’s delicious!
The menu also offers staple dishes like soups, salads, hamburgers, steaks and sandwiches. They even have desserts that come from a local pastry chef.
If you’re looking for a family-friendly place to bring the kids, J.J. Landers is a prime choice. The perfect time for a family outing might be for the Champagne Brunch when kids under 12 years old eat free. Brunch is served every Sunday from 11:30 a.m.–3 p.m. The price for adults is just $12.95 a person and includes unlimited champagne mimosas, tea, coffee, juice and sodas.
Things like the beer of the month, daily food specials and four televisions (including one huge projection screen), make the pub a great place to take in a game. During the brief wait for your food, you can even play a game of darts on the outdoor patio. Happy hour specials are served from 4–7 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 11 a.m.–4 p.m. on Saturday, and all day on Sunday.
J.J. “Purty” Landers Irish Pub is located at 125 S. Main St. in Fallbrook. It opens daily at 11:30 a.m. and closes at 9 p.m. Sunday –Tuesday, 10 p.m. on Wednesday, 11 p.m. on Thursday, and 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
For more information, call 760-731-0839 or check out www.jjlandersirishpub.com/

Baily Winery

Phil & Carol Baily moved to the Temecula Valley from Los Angeles in 1981 and had no intention of starting a winery.
Phil explained that they both love wine and initially became home winemakers; making wines for themselves, family and friends. But that all changed five years later when the Bailys purchased six additional acres and started growing grapes and making wine.
Today Baily Vineyard and Winery is the third oldest winery in the Temecula wine country. It is now comprised of 32 acres of grapes at four locations throughout the Temecula wine region— mostly specializing in red wines of the Bordeaux varieties.
The Bailys grow all the grapes used in their wines on their property. They crush, ferment, finish, age and bottle the wine in a continuous process on site. All of which allows them to use the term “estate bottled wines.”
Phil is the winemaker and his wife, Carol, is the executive chef for Carol’s restaurant, located at the winery. The red wines that the Bailys produce are known for both their balance and well-integrated tannins that result from aging 24 to 36 months in European oak.
Baily produces a wonderful Cabernet Sauvignon, smooth and silky—but don’t delay, they produce only a few 100 cases of their cab each year and they sell out quickly.
In addition to the Cabernet Sauvignon they also have an Italian red Sangiovese that goes well with meat, appetizers, cheese and pasta, a fruity Merlot that also goes well with meat and cheese, a Meritage and a Cabernet Franc.
They also produce several award-winning white wines of the Riesling variety including a montage, a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillion.Their wines have won many awards at the state and local level over the years. I asked Phil about the reputation that the Temecula wine region has now especially as compared to its northern California counterpart.
He said that several of the wineries in the area do very well in wine competitions throughout the state and, in fact, Temecula’s South Coast Winery was selected as the best winery in the sate of California in 2008.
According to Phil the weather conditions in the Temecula Valley and the soil—mostly decomposed granite with a sandy base—that allows water to seep through it, are both ideal to growing grapes that are as good as anywhere.
But Phil added that growing the grapes in an ideal climate is only part of the equation of making a good bottle of wine. Picking the grapes at just the right time in the late summer or early fall is really important; as well as how you process and bottle it all add to the taste of a good bottle of wine.
In addition, Baily uses a synthetic closure for its wines, which adds an element of quality that prevents cork taint.
The wines at Baily are priced moderate to high. Phil said there is no guarantee that a $100 bottle of wine is going to be any better than a $10 bottle.
I asked him about what I call “wine snobs” who won’t drink anything under $50 or more a bottle. Some vineyards will put a $50 price on a bottle of wine because they know that some people just won’t drink what they perceive to be a lesser quality wine because of the price.
I asked Phil: “When you’re out to dinner and trying to order the right wine what things should you do?” He answered, “Ask your waiter for a recommendation. Let him or her know what your in the mood for, a red or white wine, and them let him make a choice in your price range.
“Even if the waiter isn’t a wine expert he knows what other guests have said about the wines that he has served to them. Your waiter is a good resource when dining out.”
Baily’s approach to winemaking is a painstaking approach to detail and cleanliness because good grapes are often turned into ordinary or bad wine by poor winemaking.
I also asked Phil about the labeling of wine and how important it it.
He said that someone who takes the time to create an attractive label for their wines probably has taken the time to make sure what’s inside the bottle is also just as good, it shows pride of the wine.
To celebrate the 150th anniversary of Temecula, Baily has gotten permission to use a landscape scene by renowned artist Ralph Love for the label on selected wines.
If you are in the area and looking for a fine lunch with terrific views of the valley, Carol’s restaurant—adjacent to the wine tasting room—is open for lunch Wednesday–Sunday.
There is an attractive outside patio for alfresco dining on warm afternoons and music on the weekends.
You’ll find Baily Vineyard and Winery just off of Rancho California Road about 4.5 miles east of the 1-15 freeway. Go east and look for their sign in the heart of the Temecula Wine Country.
Call Baily Vineyard and Winery at 951-676-9463 or visit their Web site at www.bailywinery.com.

Pauma Valley Country Club

The first time I ever saw or played the Pauma Valley Country Club course was in the late 1980s. I didn’t live in Valley Center at the time, but was invited to play in the annual San Diego Boy Scouts tournament that was the only outside play allowed on this magnificent test of golf.
I was in awe of its beautiful setting with the Cleveland National Forest as a backdrop, the hills along the San Luis Rey Riverbed dotted with citrus, covered in their lush spring greenery, all complimented by a wonderful test of golf designed by renowned golf architect Robert Trent Jones Sr.
This week when I went down to Pauma Valley to gather some current information on the club, again I was in awe, especially with a snow-capped Palomar Mountain visible from almost every hole on the course.
The back nine at Pauma Valley is one of the prettiest walks in California anytime of the year, but especially breathtaking in the cooler, clearer winter months. And yes, I did say walk. You can walk Pauma Valley. For the most part the terrain is level; not a lot of slope on this course. There are several elevated tee boxes and a few elevated greens but nothing that would ruin a good walk in the park.
Pauma Valley is a traditional golf course, tight tree lined fairways, no gimmicks, no off the mountaintop tee shots, just well placed bunkers, very little water on the course, and tree lines that will give you a lot of problems for poorly struck golf shots.
The greens are challenging. Many have slope and most are undulating. This course also has distance, over 7,000 yards from the championship tees and about 6,800 yards from the whites and 6,400 yards from the blues—which most members play. There are two additional tee options that significantly shorten the course for those who want to shorten the walk.
The history of Pauma Valley Country Club is dotted with celebrities over the years. John Wayne’s ranch house was the original clubhouse when the course was built in the early 1960’s. Billy Graham had a home on the front nine for many years. There are also a couple of “Hollywood types” that are now members of the club and have homes there. Their identities I won’t mention to protect their privacy.
Recently the membership renovated the clubhouse and added several rooms and enlarged some of the dining facilities. All offer breathtaking views over the course and beyond to the hills and mountains in the distance. Membership is by invitation only. Contact Norma Chaves at 760-742-1810.
My favorites holes:
On the front nine hole number two is a dog leg 363-yard Par 4 from the whites. A good solid tee shot from this elevated tee box will give you a nice approach into a green that has bunkers both front left and right. A good opportunity for par or better on this hole.
Starting out the back nine, Number 10, is a very challenging up hill short par 4 at 358 yards. What makes this hole difficult is your second shot from well below the hole into a sloping green that is well bunkered. You will do very well to walk away with a par on this hole. Make sure you know the pin placement on this green it may save you a stroke or even two.
Number 13 is a 333-yard par 4 with a slight dogleg. This fairway is well-bunkered on the right. So make sure your tee shot goes to the left of the fairway. The green on this hole is elevated and is also well-bunkered. Again, make sure you know your pin placement to choose the right club for your approach.
Number 14 is the longest par 4 on the course at 429 yards. You can swing away with the big club on this tee box to a very generous landing area. You will also need a long iron or even a fairway wood to reach this green in regulation. A beautiful golf hole, with the old John Wayne ranch on the left of the fairway.
Number 15 is another beautiful golf hole looking toward Palomar Mountain from the elevated tee box all the way down the fairway. Be careful that the view doesn’t distract you from the fairway bunkers—this hole has nine bunkers. This green is difficult with lots of personality to it. You could lose a good score on the green, be careful.
The finishing hole at Pauma Valley is a 422 yard par 4. A good tee shot from an elevated tee box down a narrow well-bunkered fairway is the key to a good score on Number 18.
Pauma Valley is a fair but challenging test of golf. To score well on this course you must execute your approach shots successfully to the very challenging, and in most cases sloping and undulating, greens.
The club facilities at Pauma Valley include a wonderful dining room, tennis courts and a first rate pro shop. For those wishing to arrive by air there is also a landing strip adjacent to the club.
For general information about Pauma Valley Country Club, visit their web site at www.paumavalleycc.com or for membership information contact Norma Chaves at 760-742-1810.

The Boulevard Magazine
P.O.B. 1529, Valley Center, CA 92082
Tel. 760.749.1112 Fax 760.749.1688